The Long View

The Last Trace of a Great Newspaper

James Gordon Bennett Sr. founded the New York Herald in 1835 and made it the first modern newspaper. The New York Times' renaming the International Herald Tribune in the fall marks the disappearance of the name of the New York Herald from American journalism after 178 years.

Since 2003, the New York Times has been the sole owner of the International Herald Tribune, which was founded in 1887 by James Gordon Bennett Jr., with headquarters in Paris. The Times has announced that it will be renaming the paper as the International New York Times this fall.

While that will mean the loss of a masthead familiar to Americans traveling abroad for more than four generations, it also means the final disappearance of the name of the New York Herald from American journalism after 178 years. That is a pity,...